Paige Blumer always loved horses. She started taking riding lessons when she was 5, after launching a campaign to convince her parents to sign her up.
Blumer soon was participating in equestrian competitions and became serious about the sport, working with a trainer in Lucketts, Virginia, near her home. It was there she first met a quarter horse named Josey Wales.
“She had this very motherly energy, which is weird to say about a horse,” Blumer said. “I just always felt like she was going to take care of me.”
The two even had the same birthday, April 1, though Blumer was 8 and the horse — whom she called “Fancy” — was 12.
Blumer and Fancy grew up together, winning many equestrian competitions as a pair and maintaining a steadfast connection for 25 years. Now Fancy’s longevity is being recognized: Guinness World Records just named Fancy, 37, the World’s Oldest Horse.
“It’s kind of cool because it’s the year of the horse,” Blumer said. “And she’s coming up on her 38th birthday.”
Blumer will be 34 that day.
Fancy’s former owner, Gary Cox, who was Blumer’s childhood trainer, said he was thrilled when he recently heard Fancy was still alive. He said it’s a testament to the care that Blumer has given her over the past 25 years.
“Anybody else would have put that horse down a long time ago,” Cox said.
Cox originally bought the horse to breed her but agreed to let Blumer ride her until the horse was pregnant. After her foal was born, Cox planned to sell the horse, but Blumer begged her parents to buy her.
“I did not come from a family who had horses,” Blumer said, explaining her parents we not horse people.
Blumer was shocked in June 2000 when her parents bought her the horse. Blumer quickly renamed her “Fancy,” because, as she told her parents, “she was too fancy to be called anything else.”
“Paige and Fancy were meant to be,” Cox said.
On their birthday, Blumer would decorate Fancy’s field and serve her dinner with birthday candles.
Blumer hasn’t ridden Fancy in years because of the horse’s age, but she spends time with her almost every day at Tamworth Farm, the retirement farm in Virginia where Fancy now lives, about 10 minutes from Blumer’s home.
Blumer’s love of animals also grew into a career. She has worked in veterinary offices for about a decade, and is now the hospital manager for an animal dentist and oral surgeon in Leesburg, Virginia. She attributes Fancy’s longevity to her knowledge, as well as the expertise she has assembled around Fancy — a therapeutic farrier who cares for her hooves, and a team of veterinarians who do regular bloodwork and carefully adjusts her diet.
It hasn’t always been easy. Fancy has equine Cushing’s disease, an endocrine disorder, and is almost completely blind — one eye is missing from an injury and the other has cataracts.
“She’s a fighter,” said Colin Moats, the farrier who takes care of Fancy’s hooves.
Recently, Blumer adopted a senior donkey named Rosie to keep Fancy company. Rosie, who is in her mid-20s, is Fancy’s companion and guardian.
“They’re just two grannies in a field together, and they love each other’s company,” Blumer said. She likes to imagine the two are gossiping about who they see in the next field over.
Veterinarians who worked with Fancy told Blumer she was their oldest patient by far. But it didn’t occur to Blumer that Fancy could be a world record holder until a family member suggested last year that she submit Fancy for the Guinness World Record. The world’s oldest horse at the time was 36, and Fancy had just turned 37.
“I knew Fancy was old, of course. But I know there are lots of horses that have lived well into their 40s,” Blumer said. “But not everyone can prove it. Not everyone has the papers, the documents, the photos, the vet records.”
She submitted Fancy for the record in part because she wanted to show people that with the proper nutrition and care, horses can thrive into their 30s and beyond.
Blumer contacted the American Quarter Horse Association, which keeps records of the breed, and said “they automatically mark every horse deceased after the age of 25, which I was very offended by.”
Blumer submitted the application in May last year and then forgot about it — until she heard from Guinness World Records last month.
Alexandra Vilgrain, owner and founder of Tamworth Farm, said she started the retirement farm for older horses for one main reason: “We celebrate what horses give us in their prime. We have an obligation to protect them in their senior years.”
Many horses are euthanized once their riding years are over in their 20s, but Vilgrain said she hopes that’s starting to change as long as the horses still have quality of life. She said that Fancy is an example of what aging can look like for an older horse.
Blumer said she is touched that she was able to introduce her daughter, Quinn, 4, to Fancy.
“It was crazy. Very full circle. Honestly, a day I never would have thought would have happened as a kid,” said Blumer, adding that Quinn now helps groom Fancy and Rosie and gives them treats.
“A horse’s useful life is not just for being ridden,” Blumer said. “They have so much more purpose and so much more worth and so many things we can learn from them. I enjoy my weekends going out and just bathing her and being in her presence. It’s very peaceful. It’s so enjoyable to still have her in our life and we’re just very grateful.”
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